{{short description|Ancient Roman graffito, early depiction of Jesus}} {{redirect|Jesus donkey|the animal ridden by Jesus in the synoptic gospels|Triumphal entry into Jerusalem#The donkey(s)}} {{Infobox artifact | name = Alexamenos graffito | image = {{Switcher |thumb |Photo of the plaster|default=1 |thumb |Tracing of the inscription }} | material = Plaster | writing = Ancient Greek inscription: ΑΛΕΞΑΜΕΝΟϹ ϹΕΒΕΤΕ ΘΕΟΝ ("Alexamenos worships [his] god") | discovered = 1857 | discovered_place = Domus Gelotiana, Palatine Hill, Rome, Italy | period = Early 3rd century AD | location = Palatine Museum, Rome | culture = Ancient Rome }} The '''Alexamenos graffito''' ({{Langx|it|graffito blasfemo|4=blasphemous graffito}},<ref name="Bayley">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/archaicenglanda00baylgoog |page=[https://archive.org/details/archaicenglanda00baylgoog/page/n407 393] |quote=alexamenos. |first=Harold |last=Bayley |title=Archaic England: An essay in deciphering prehistory from megalithic monuments, earthworks, customs, coins, place-names, and faerie superstitions |publisher=Chapman & Hall |year=1920 |access-date=2020-02-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150201213038/https://archive.org/details/archaicenglanda00baylgoog |archive-date=2015-02-01 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|393}} or {{lang|it|graffito di Alessameno}}) is a piece of Roman graffiti scratched into the plaster of a wall in a room near the Palatine Hill in Rome, Italy, which has since been removed and is now located in the Palatine Museum. Often said to be the earliest depiction of Jesus, the graffito is difficult to date, but has been estimated to have been made around the year 200 AD.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/gladiators/graffito.html|title=Alexamenos and pagan perceptions of Christians|work=uchicago.edu}}</ref> The image seems to show a young man worshiping a crucified, donkey-headed figure. The Ancient Greek inscription approximately translates to {{gloss|'Alexamenos worships [his] god'}},<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z2ZACwAAQBAJ&pg=PA232|title=Sight and the Ancient Senses|isbn=9781317515388|access-date=2018-08-31 |last1=Squire|first1=Michael|date=22 December 2015|publisher=Routledge }}</ref> indicating that the graffito was apparently meant to mock a Christian named Alexamenos.<ref name="Viladesau">{{cite book|last=Viladesau|first=Richard|title=The Word in and Out of Season |year=1992 |publisher=Paulist Press|isbn=0-8091-3626-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3FRi1eU4BYEC&pg=PA46 |page=46|access-date=2016-07-19 }}</ref>
== Content == [[File:Christparody.jpg|thumb|High contrast image of the graffito for clarity]] The image depicts a human-like figure affixed to a cross and possessing the head of a donkey or mule. In the top right of the image is what has been interpreted as either the Greek letter upsilon or a tau cross.<ref name="Bayley" /> To the left of the image is a young man{{snd}}apparently intended to represent Alexamenos<ref>Rodolfo Lanciani, ''Ancient Rome in the Light of Recent Discoveries'', 1898, chapter 5 'The Palace of the Caesars'</ref>{{snd}}as a Roman soldier or guard, raising one hand in a gesture possibly suggesting worship.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wright |first=Thomas |url=https://archive.org/details/ahistorycaricat00wriggoog/page/n61 |title=A history of caricature and grotesque in literature and art |date=1968 |publisher=New York, F. Ungar Pub. Co |others=Oxford University}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Augustus John Cuthbert |last=Hare |title=Walks in Rome, Volume 1 |publisher=Adamant Media Corporation |year=2005 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NjvP6cmXX94C |page=201 |isbn=9781402186424 }}</ref>
Beneath the cross is a crude caption written as {{lang|grc|"ΑΛΕΞΑΜΕΝΟϹ ϹΕΒΕΤΕ ΘΕΟΝ"}}. The word {{Lang|grc|"ϹΕΒΕΤΕ"}} can be understood as a variant (or a possible phonetic misspelling) of the Standard Greek word {{Lang|grc|ϹΕΒΕΤΑΙ}}, which means {{gloss|'worships'}}.{{efn|More specifically, {{lang|grc|ϹΕΒΕΤΑΙ}} ({{lang|grc|σέβεται}}, ''sébetai'') is the ''third-person present-tense singular indicative middle/passive'' conjugation for {{Wikt-lang|grc|σέβομαι}} (''sébomai''; see Ancient Greek grammar and Koine Greek grammar), which classically means {{gloss|to feel awe or fear before God, especially when doing something disgraceful}}. It also carries a more general meaning of feeling shame or religious awe. Its descendant in Modern Greek, {{Wikt-lang|el|σέβομαι}} (''sévomai''), merely means {{gloss|respect}}.}} The inscription would then be read as {{lang|grc|"Ἀλεξάμενος σέβεται θεόν"}}, or {{gloss|'Alexamenos worships [his] God'}}.<ref name="p. 103">{{cite book |first1=David L. |last1=Balch |first2=Carolyn |last2=Osiek |title=Early Christian Families in Context: An Interdisciplinary Dialogue |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |year=2003 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VjMdbpzLhRQC&pg=PA103 |page=103 |isbn=9780802839862 }}</ref><ref name="p. 208">{{cite book |first=B. Hudson |last=MacLean |title=An introduction to Greek epigraphy of the Hellenistic and Roman periods from Alexander the Great down to the reign of Constantine |publisher=University of Michigan Press |year=2002 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x2AD3M77TgMC&pg=RA1-PA208 |page=208 |isbn=0472112384 }}</ref> Several other sources suggest {{gloss|'Alexamenos worshipping a god'}} or other similar variants as the intended translation.<ref>{{cite CE1913 |wstitle=The Ass (in Caricature of Christian Beliefs and Practices) |last=Hassett |first=Maurice M. |volume=1}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ctsfw.edu/library/files/pb/1560 |title=Home Page – Concordia Theological Seminary |publisher=Ctsfw.edu |access-date=2012-10-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080704204343/http://www.ctsfw.edu/library/files/pb/1560 |archive-date=2008-07-04 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sustain.ubc.ca/pdfs/seedreport04/dec04/Graffiti%20R%20Proj.pdf |title=''A Sociological Analysis of Graffiti'' |publisher=Sustain.ubc.ca |access-date=2012-10-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111004110730/http://www.sustain.ubc.ca/pdfs/seedreport04/dec04/Graffiti%20R%20Proj.pdf |archive-date=2011-10-04 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Charles William King|title=''Gnostics and their Remains''|year=1887|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/gno/gar/gar71.htm|at=p. 433 note 12|access-date=2012-10-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104134234/http://www.sacred-texts.com/gno/gar/gar71.htm|archive-date=2012-11-04|url-status=live}}</ref>
In the next chamber, another inscription in a different hand written in both Greek and Latin reads as {{Lang|grc|"ΑΛΕΞΑΜΕΝΟϹ}} {{Lang|la|FIDELIS"|italic=no}} ("''Alexamenos'' {{Wikt-lang|la|fidelis}}"), which either means {{gloss|'Alexamenos is faithful'}} or {{gloss|'Alexamenos the faithful'}}.<ref name="CathEncy grafitti">{{cite CE1913 |wstitle= Graffiti |first= Maurice M. |last= Hassett |volume=6}}</ref> This may be a retort by an unknown party to the mockery of Alexamenos represented in the graffito.<ref name="p. 244" />
== Date == No clear consensus has been reached on when the image was made. Dates ranging from the late 1st century AD to the late 3rd century AD have been suggested,<ref>{{cite book |first=Hans |last=Schwarz |title=Christology |publisher= Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |year= 1998 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rcrsdlz041AC&pg=PA207 |page=207 |isbn=9780802844637 }}</ref> with the beginning of the 3rd century AD thought to be the most likely.<ref name="p. 103" /><ref name="p. 244">{{cite book |first=Michael |last=Green |title=Evangelism in the Early Church |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |year= 2004 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9F-nnE2dfqUC&pg=PA244 |page=244 |isbn=9780802827685 }}</ref>
== Discovery and location == The graffito was discovered in 1857 when a building known as the ''domus Gelotiana'' was unearthed on the Palatine Hill. The emperor Caligula had acquired the house for the imperial palace, which after Caligula died was used as a ''Paedagogium'' (boarding school) for imperial page boys. Later, the street along which the house sat was walled off to support extensions to the buildings above and thus remained sealed for centuries.<ref>{{cite book |first=Edward L |last=Cutts |title=History of Early Christian Art |publisher=Kessinger Publishing |year=2004 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zayvAvrH0EwC&pg=PA200 |page=200 |isbn=9780766187214 }}</ref>
== Interpretation == The inscription is usually considered to be a mocking depiction of a Christian in the act of worship. The donkey's head and crucifixion would both have been considered insulting depictions by contemporary Roman society. Crucifixion continued to be used as a method of execution for the worst criminals until its abolition by the first Christian emperor Constantine I in the early 4th century AD.<ref>{{cite book |author-link=N. T. Wright |first=N. T. |last=Wright |title=What Saint Paul Really Said: Was Paul of Tarsus the Real Founder of Christianity? |year=1997 |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gCsD4nkYeEQC&pg=RA1-PA46 |page=46 |isbn=9780802844453 }}</ref>
It seems to have been commonly believed at the time that Christians practiced ''onolatry'' (donkey-worship). That was based on the misconception that Jews worshipped a god in the form of a donkey, a claim made by Apion (30–20 BC – {{Circa|45-48 AD}}) and denied by Josephus in his work ''Against Apion''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://penelope.uchicago.edu/josephus/apion-2.html|title=Josephus: Against Apion II|website=penelope.uchicago.edu}}</ref>
Origen reports in his treatise ''Contra Celsum'' that the pagan philosopher Celsus made the same claim against Christians and Jews.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/04167.htm|title=CHURCH FATHERS: Contra Celsum, Book VII (Origen)|website=www.newadvent.org}}</ref>
Tertullian, writing during the late 2nd or early 3rd century, reports that Christians, along with Jews, were accused of worshiping such a deity. He also mentions an apostate Jew who carried around Carthage a caricature of a Christian with a donkey's ears and hooves, labeled {{Lang|la|Deus Christianorum}} {{lang|grc|ὀνοκοίτης}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tertullian.org/latin/apologeticum_becker.htm|title=Tertulliani Apologeticum|access-date=2018-08-31|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180912204755/http://www.tertullian.org/latin/apologeticum_becker.htm|archive-date=2018-09-12|url-status=live}}</ref> ({{gloss|'The God of the Christians conceived of an ass'}}).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tertullian : T.H. BINDLEY, The Apology of Tertullian (1890) |url=https://www.tertullian.org/articles/bindley_apol/bindley_apol.htm |access-date=2025-03-23 |website=www.tertullian.org}}</ref>
In the image, Alexamenos is portrayed venerating an image of the crucifix, a detail that Peter Maser believed to represent the Christian practice of venerating icons. The practice, however, was not known to be part of Christian worship until the 4th or 5th century.<ref name="p. 103"/>
thumb|"Anubis as Guardian of the Dead" from Lundy, John Patterson (1876). ''Monumental Christianity'' New York, J.W. Bouton. p. 60.
thumb|"The Gnostic Anubis" from Lundy, John Patterson (1876). ''Monumental Christianity'' New York, J.W. Bouton. p. 61.
Some scholars of the 19th century argued that the inscription is actually a depiction of the jackal-headed Egyptian god Anubis. For example, in Rev. John P. Lundy's book on early Christian history published in 1876, it identifies the inscription as the "Gnostic Anubis."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lundy |first1=John Patterson |title=Monumental Christianity; or, The art and symbolism of the primitive church as witnesses and teachers of the one Catholic faith and practice |date=1876 |publisher=New York, J.W. Bouton |page=61 |isbn=978-0-524-01114-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/MonumentalChristianity/page/60/mode/1up?q=gnostic+anubis}}</ref> He writes that the inscription depicts the "head of Anubis, or Thoth, the Egyptian Mercury and custodian of the dead".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lundy |first1=John Patterson |title=Monumental Christianity; or, The art and symbolism of the primitive church as witnesses and teachers of the one Catholic faith and practice |date=1876 |publisher=New York, J.W. Bouton |page=59 |isbn=978-0-524-01114-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/MonumentalChristianity/page/60/mode/1up?q=gnostic+anubis}}</ref> 19th-century scholar Charles William King says it is disputed whether it is a caricature of a Christian convert or an adoration of the jackal-headed god Anubis.<ref>{{cite book |last1=King |first1=Charles William |title=The Gnostics and their remains : ancient and mediaeval |date=1887 |publisher=London : Nutt |page=433 |url=https://archive.org/details/gnosticsandtheir00kinguoft/page/n460/mode/1up?q=Alexamenos}}</ref>
== See also == * Anti-Christian sentiment
== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}
== References == {{Reflist|30em}}
== Further reading == * Titus Flavius Josephus, [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/josephus/apion-2.html ''Against Apion'', II (VII), 2.80] * Norman Walker, ''The Riddle of the Ass's Head, and the question of a trigram'', ''ZAW'' 9 (1963), 219–231.
== External links == {{Commons category}} * [http://ntresources.com/blog/?page_id=2669 The Alexamenos Graffito: page by Rodney J. Decker] * [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/gladiators/graffito.html Alexamenos and pagan perceptions of Christians] * {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070121210001/http://www.textexcavation.com/alexamenos.html Alexamenos: a Christian mocked for believing in a crucified God]}}
Category:3rd century in art Category:3rd century in the Roman Empire Category:3rd-century inscriptions Category:3rd-century Christianity Category:1857 archaeological discoveries Category:Ancient city of Rome Category:Anti-Christian sentiment in Italy Category:Archaeological discoveries in Italy Category:Arts in Rome Category:Christianity in the Roman Empire Category:Christianity in Rome Category:Crucifixion of Jesus in art Category:Donkeys in art Category:Early Christianity-related inscriptions Category:Graffiti (archaeology) Category:Palatine Hill Category:Roman Empire art Category:Roman-era Greek inscriptions Category:Donkey deities Category:Anthropomorphic donkeys